


all the time in the world

by littlemaple



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Cardverse, Fluff, M/M, Prince/Knight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 22:14:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15543276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlemaple/pseuds/littlemaple
Summary: Arthur is going to be late, and it’s Alfred’s fault.





	all the time in the world

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as a gift for a friend on tumblr, but I might as well post it here because I had a lot of fun writing it! <3  
> Who doesn't love cardverse??

****They were running out of time. Arthur had a meeting with the Queen and Jack in exactly five minutes, and Alfred knew Arthur didn’t like being late, he should’ve said somethingten minutes ago, but… He just wanted to watch Arthur practicing his spells for a little bit longer. He felt charmed, standing there, watching Arthur as Arthur floated a good meter from the ground, legs crossed, eyes fixed on his grimoire, which was also floating, as he moved his hands around and mumbled things to himself, soft and thin beams of purple light tracing behind his hands as he moved them smoothly.

It was so beautiful, with the garden around him, with trees in the background, with the soft and relaxing sound of falling water from the fountain nearby, with the afternoon sunlight and the light breeze.

It was so beautiful, _Arthur_ was so beautiful, Alfred couldn’t help but to stretch that moment just a little longer, as long as he dared, just so he could feel that peace, enjoy the silence, watch his prince.

He sighed.

“My prince,” he said finally, eyeing his pocket watch and shifting his weight from one leg to the other. His armor clanked slightly. “We must get going. It’s almost time for your meeting.”

“Hm,” Arthur hummed, “how long do I have?”

“Uh, five minutes.”

Arthur turned his head to face Alfred, who promptly looked away. Arthur descended slowly until he was sitting on the ground, “You should’ve warned me about it twenty minutes ago, I still need to get changed!”

“I’m sorry, my prince. I got distracted,” Alfred said, and he regretted it as soon as the words left his mouth.

“That’s troublesome.” Arthur looked at him sternly. Alfred offered him a hand to stand up, and he took it, “If someone were to attack me while you were distracted, then—”

“I would never let that happen,” Alfred said right away, firm and confident, “I had my eyes on you the whole time!”

Arthur blushed, looking away. Alfred felt awkward, knowing he had said yet another thing he shouldn’t

“Er, well… I really should get going…” Arthur sighed as he grabbed his grimoire and looked at his own pocket watch.

“You know,” he said with a slight pout as he walked towards the castle, “they say that a King has the power to stop time… That seems so convenient. I wish the Grand Clock hadn’t been destroyed in the last war, so I could use that power as well… That would solve many of my problems.”

“I heard they were working on the Clock, though,” Alfred commented, following Arthur suit, but keeping a couple steps behind him, “isn’t it? One of the servants was saying something the other day, that a bunch of watchmakers showed up to look at it.”

“The servants shouldn’t be speaking about this to begin with, but…” Arthur rolled his eyes, “They might even make the Clock work again, but the ancient magic that lived within it was most certainly lost forever… it’s so unfair,” he looked at the small birthmark on the back of his hand, a clear, black Spadian shape, “Queens are chosen by birth but Kings are chosen by Time… sometimes I wonder what they were thinking back then, to store the fate of our kingdom somewhere where it could be broken. That is, my mother does a great job on her own, and so will I, however… Spades is weakened in comparison with the other kingdoms, considering they all have a Queen _and_ a King.”

“Spades is strong as ever, though. The people are happy and there’s no war,” Alfred responded.

“For now. We best not get distracted,” Arthur glared at Alfred, silently lecturing him. Alfred blushed.

Arthur looked at his watch again, “I have two minutes… I’ll never make it in time and they’ll lecture _me_ again.”

Alfred was ready to apologize, but instead, he offered the prince his hand.

“Let me carry you.”

“ _I beg your pardon?_ ”

“Let me carry you,” he said again, “I’m fast. You’ll still be late, but, well, not _as_ late. I can get you to your quarters in a minute, and back to the office in another one. As long as you get changed fast, we’ll only be a couple minutes late!” Alfred grinned confidently. “.... M-my prince,” he remembered to add.

Arthur eyed him for a couple of seconds, looked at his watch again, and then shrugged.

“Alright, you may carry m—ah!”

In a quick swoop, Alfred took the prince in his arms and ran to the castle, opening the doors with his shoulders, not even bothering to slow down. The prince let out a loud and squeaky sound, wrapping his arms tight around the knight’s neck. Alfred laughed. Arthur cursed. They arrived at the prince’s quarters fast enough, and Arthur dizzily walked in, closing the door behind him while Alfred waited outside, his cheeks burning, his chest warm.

About five minutes later Arthur opened the door, wearing a more formal and seemingly less comfortable attire. He adjusted his tie and his eyes avoided Alfred’s.

“Shall we?” Alfred said with a smile.

“Yeah, yeah,” Arthur mumbled.

Alfred was more careful and slow when picking Arthur up this time, but within seconds he was running again.

He stopped in front of the office, putting the prince down. He watched as Arthur messed with his tie again, and then his hair.

“Well, then. Thank you,” he said.

“I’ll be here if you need me,” Alfred smiled.

Arthur nodded, knocking before he walked in.

Before the door closed behind Arthur, Alfred heard the Jack say, “Oh, Arthur! You’re just in time. Please, sit down.”

Puzzled, Alfred took out his pocket watch and stared at it. The hands were moving, slowly and quietly as always, but the clock was telling him they were two minutes early.


End file.
